82 Ky. 674 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1885
delivered the opinion of the court.
This aofion was instituted on. a note executed for the purchase price of lightning-rods manufactured in the State of Illinois and sold by a citizen of that State to a citizen of this State. The defense is that the contract is void, being so declared by the statute, when, as in this case, the person selling is a peddler without license. The court below held the contract void, and dismissed the petition, and from that judgment this appeal is taken.
Section 1 of chapter 84 of General Statutes provides that “all itinerant persons vending goods, wares and merchandise * * shall be deemed peddlers,” and the second section of that chapter prescribes a penalty for selling by such persons without first having obtained license therefor. Section 6 of article 3, chapter 92, of General Statutes declares that all contracts
The only question is whether the act of 1874 operates to repeal the general law which requires all itinerant persons selling goods, wares or merchandise,, wherever manufactured, to first obtain license therefor. The act of 1874 is in terms “an act to amend,”' and can not be construed to be a repealing act except by implication. It is insisted that it repeals the entire law requiring license because it discriminates against the citizens and manufactories of other States, and renders the whole law unconstitutional, as it violates the provisions of the Federal Constitution, which, entitles the citizens of each State to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States, and the further provision that gives Congress power to-regulate commerce between the States. Such discriminations, it goes without discussion, are unconstitutional, and that the act of 1874, when construed with the then existing license law, makes the discrimination, is perfectly clear. That the Legislature, could have repealed the entire license law is unques
Judgment affirmed.